You were a self-motivated, ambitious kind of person. You liked to think that nothing could stop you. And most of the time you're probably right. Well that was until you got Crohn’s Disease.

I often like to ask what came first – the stress or the crohn’s disease. It is a little like the chicken or the egg. I guess the best answer is it doesn't matter. What matters is you are stressed.

I know ‘stressed out’ all seems a bit like old news but we're actually experiencing more stress now than we did when “I’m so stressed” was the catch cry. Most people report an increase in their stress levels over the last few years. No-one seems to be saying it’s getting easier.

Add the impact a chronic illness like crohn’s disease adds to the mix and no wonder you feel like your chest is going to explode. And that is when you are feeling relatively well.

What if you succumb to a stress related illnesses as well as the problems associated with having crohn’s disease? That could mean a long time without income. It could even mean never being able to work at your full capacity again. And that could mean giving up on your dreams, giving up on your ambitions and settling for a life you never imagined for yourself.

It is VITAL that we learn to manage our stress much, much better than we do now.

Now stress is a funny thing. What stresses us one day may not rate a blip on the stress radar the next. The traffic jam might drive us crazy on Tuesday but on Wednesday we hardly notice it. Believe it or not this is good news. It means that there’s something other than just external events that trigger our stress response and it means we can learn to control those other triggers.

Stress exists because of stressors – things that are happening that are outside us and inside us too. Stress happens because there is something we perceive as being beyond our ability to manage well. Because our stress comes from our perceived ability to cope with external pressures then it makes sense that we can change our perception or enhance our ability to cope to manage our stress.

For most of us we would find that our stress management IQ is probably a bit low. On average most people would get pretty poor grades on a stress management test. We learn a lot of things in school – equations that we'll never remember, when Emily Bronte lived and died – all totally useful things (yes that was sarcasm) but learning how to deal with stress is left to chance.

So why talk about Stress And Crohn's Disease? Well stress is one of the triggers of a crohn's flare up and yet it is something that most of us choose to ignore and do nothing about. But it is something that we can have an impact on. We can have an impact by learning new skills, changing our routine and eating different foods. We can have control.

So what does Stress do to our bodies?

Well stress can have a very negative impact on your digestion. It sends some people running to the bathroom and slows digestion for others. Imagining adding these symptoms to the problems you already have by suffering with Crohn's Disease.

Psychological stress on the body has very physical manifestations, so using exercise, laughter, breathing exercises, yoga, and meditation to manage stress is essential.

So I wanted to share with you a wonderful Meditation App you can Download to your phone. It will help you work on your Stress Levels and get back some of that control.

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My Crohn's Doctor

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